What's more, with a number of senior players having also said goodbye to New Zealand after last year's World Cup, Whitelock is hoping to follow in the footsteps of his seniors in welcoming the next generation into the All Blacks' ranks.

"For me, being one of the older members of the New Zealand rugby community. I've got to make sure I can pass on a lot of the knowledge that a lot of the older guys did for me.

"I had some amazing people pass on what they knew, Brad Thorn, Keven Mealamu, there's a big long list there. Hopefully I can offload, and make the transition for some players easier and hopefully quicker, and hopefully we don't have a drop off with the All Blacks."